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The Connecticut Chapter strives to provide knowledge and assistance to help people with MS and their families maintain the highest possible quality of life. These goals are achieved through vital national and local programs.

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Going Bananas For Bike MS

March 31, 2014

Banana Bike Team captain Mike Stacy, an on-air personality at Lite 100.5 WRCH in Farmington, will host the Girls Gone Bananas fundraiser on Saturday, April 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. at J Restaurant and Bar, in Hartford, to benefit his team’s fundraising for the 2014 Bike MS. For more information on the 2014 Praxair Bike MS ride, presented by Louis Dreyfus Commodities, or to donate, visit www.bikeMSct.org.

FARMINGTON, Conn. – Each year, WRCH’s Mike Stacy goes a little bananas for Bike MS. This year, the pandemonium has spread beyond the radio station’s doors, down the road, and into J Restaurant and Bar.

Stacy, captain of the Banana Bike Team, has collaborated with the Hartford-based restaurant to host the first ever Girls Gone Bananas fundraiser on Saturday, April 12, from 1 to 4 p.m.

“This event is sure to be a crowd pleaser,” said Stacy, who has teamed up with the National MS Society since 1989. “In 1990, we were passing out bananas at rest stops and last year, I rode 50 miles. This year, in honor of our 25-year mark, I’m adding something new to the mix.”

Admission to the Girls Gone Bananas event will include one complimentary cocktail featuring Bananacello from Peel Liqueurs, light appetizers and Bananas Foster treats. The event also features interactive tables with jewelry, skin care, sunglasses, banana bingo, music, chair massages and a hair fashion show. Tickets are available for a donation of $25. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Banana Bike Team's fund raising efforts, in turn supporting the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter’s 2014 Bike MS.

More than 6,000 Connecticut residents are affected by multiple sclerosis, a potentially debilitating disease. The cause is unknown and there is currently no cure for MS. Symptoms can include numbness in the limbs, difficulties with vision and speech, stiffness, loss of mobility and, in some more severe cases, total paralysis. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot be predicted.

“I’ve had a relationship with Bike MS for 25 years now and it continues to be something special,” said Stacy, who lives in Rocky Hill. “More recently, I learned that one of my coworkers is battling MS. While that is never good news, I only let it strengthen my motivation to keep riding.”

The 2014 Praxair Bike MS, presented by Louis Dreyfus Commodities, will be held Sunday, June 1, in Windsor and Sunday, June 8, in Westport. Last year, Bike MS attracted more than 800 cyclists and raised a record $578,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Connecticut Chapter. This year, the chapter hopes to raise $595,000.

Finish line festivities include a barbeque lunch, live entertainment, local vendors offering product samples, free massage therapy and more.

Funds raised by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Connecticut Chapter, through events such as Bike MS, ensure ongoing scientific research to find better treatments and a cure, as well as help to provide vital programs and services offered by the chapter to those in the state living with multiple sclerosis.

Community partners include WTNH News 8, The Fox 95.9, and WRCH Lite 100.5, which has supported and promoted the ride for more than 27 years. Stacy is co-host of WRCH’s Allan, Mike and Mary in the Morning.

The Girls Gone Bananas event will take place at J Restaurant and Bar, located at 297 Washington St, in Hartford, from 1 to 4 p.m.

For more information on the Girls Gone Bananas event, contact Mike Stacy at 860.284.9132 or email at mjstacy@cbs.com. For more information on the 2014 Bike MS Praxair Ride, presented by Louis Dreyfus Commodities, or to donate, visit www.bikeMSct.org.

3/31/14

About the Connecticut Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society

The Connecticut Chapter strives to provide knowledge and assistance to help people with MS and their families maintain the highest possible quality of life. These goals are achieved through vital national and local programs.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide.